The Ring {L.S}

Chapter 1: New Hire

"All I wanted was a fucking Bud Light, moron."

Louis smiled and walked into the server's station to ring in table 32's Bud Light. A Saturday night dinner rush was no joke at the bar, and it didn't help that the game was on. It seemed like all the bros were home from college and Louis couldn't catch a break. Nothing is worse than getting double sat, having to recite the dessert specials to three tables and then having Chad from Sigma phi yelling at you over his simple beer choices. He really hated serving tables, but it was good money in between going to school full time. The money and the friends made the bad customers worth it.

At nine o'clock the restaurant would turn into a nightclub and that's when dinner service began to slow down. All the servers finished up their tables and served drinks around the dancefloor to the sloppy guests and chatty regulars who were just there for a good night. Some nights it seemed like forever to get to this point, especially when all you've eaten since you've gotten in in the morning were cold french fries from the back. This was the best time of the night, and it's not just because all of the hot bouncers finally got to work, but because Zayn always made it a point to bring Louis a Red Bull to get through the rest of the night. Zayn and Louis became good friends back when Louis was a host in the restaurant.

The hosts took the cover charges at the door and spent the night with the bouncers just chatting away as they checked IDs. Zayn was head bouncer and knew Louis was competent enough to take $5 from everyone who came in, so he chose him to take cover often. It wasn't until he was 18 that he could start serving tables, so he had an entire year to become close to the bouncers, and missed hanging out with them. Zayn always made up for it by being sure to bring sugary drinks and food whenever Louis was working because he knew that he hadn't eaten.

Serving tables was every man for themselves. Everyone was fighting over who got what table, which server would be cut first, and not to mention, if someone was sleeping with someone else's boyfriend it was absolute hell. For the most part he kept to himself, Niall was a friend of Louis' who he had trained on the host stand back in the day, and it's really nice that management finally let Niall serve with him. It seemed like a long few months being alone on the floor.

In the server's station Niall was eating a granola bar as fast as he could while Louis rang in Chad's Bud Light, "I can't believe you got that table full of bros again! This is the second Saturday in a row they've come in," he mentioned to Louis with a mouth full of granola, "maybe they requested to sit in your section." Louis just groaned and remembered the $400 bill from last week and the $20 tip that came with it. It wasn't shocking to see a table like this not tip well, but that didn't make it suck any less. Meanwhile, Niall had a table full of their older coworkers who thought he was the cutest little thing in the world, so he would no doubt make a decent amount tonight on that one table alone. "I swear sometimes I just can't catch a break," Louis stops talking when Niall is smiling wide and looking behind him.

When Louis turns around to see what in the world he could be looking at, there is Zayn, hair slicked back with a 20 oz Red Bull in his hand waiting for Louis to notice him. "Bad night, huh?" He asks while taking off his jacket and hanging it up in the coat closet. "You would never guess who I have sitting at my table," they both look over together when Zayn abruptly says, "yeah he'll be out of here by 9:30 guaranteed" they both just smile and Zayn walks away. It was nice to know that someone had Louis' back at all times - especially in this cutthroat bar.

Louis walked over to the service bar only to be greeted by Alyssa behind the bar talking about how gorgeous Zayn looked tonight as she's waiting for the spout to stop on his Bud Light. It was insane how every girl here hung on every word the bouncers spoke - and all the guys knew it. Not sure if it was their confidence, or if it was their beautiful bone structure, Louis couldn't help but agree. "Yeah, yeah we know Alyssa, you can't wait to fuck him, we know," Louis remarked back to her smirking, she fired back simply, "yeah neither can you" and his face dropped. Louis had never thought of Zayn like that, because he's obviously straight, he was a few years older and he was his best friend in the restaurant. There was no doubt that he was good looking, but definitely not the guy for him. Louis was out to everyone and didn't really care about what people thought of him, especially not at his job. While he hated serving tables, he adored his coworkers so much and wouldn't want to work anywhere else. Long doubles really bring you together.